This invention relates to a suction device for use in dental treatment and which can reliably suck saliva, blood and liquid drugs in the mouth of a patient during dental treatment and can simultaneously control the temperature and humidity in the mouth.
A conventional such suction device has a nozzle at the tip of a suction pipe. The nozzle is inserted into the mouth of a patient to suck up saliva and blood in the mouth through the nozzle. In order to effectively suck saliva and blood, the nozzle has to be moved sufficiently close to the area where the treatment is being carried out. It is difficult for one person to carry out such a delicate operation during dental treatment.
Thus, instead of the dentist, an assistant operates the suction device while the dentist is performing dental treatment. But in such a case, the assistant has to keep the nozzle of the suction device sufficiently apart from the area being treated in the mouth so as not to interfere with the dental treatment performed by the dentist. Therefore, no sufficient suction force can be applied to the area being treated.
When using a dental adhesive in the mouth of a patient, it is necessary to keep the temperature and humidity in the mouth sufficiently low in order to obtain sufficiently high bond strength. But the temperature in the mouth is usually as high as the body temperature and the humidity in the mouth is nearly 100%. Thus, in order for a dental adhesive to show sufficient bond strength in the mouth, it is necessary to lower the temperature and humidity in an area where the adhesive is used by sucking air in this area. But as described above, it was difficult to apply sufficient suction force to the area where dental treatment is being performed.
In (unexamined) JP patent publications 7-204215 and 11-28219, we proposed a dental suction device comprising a hollow tube having flexibility and shape retainability and formed with suction holes, and a connector having a vacuum port which can be connected to a vacuum source and connected to one or both ends of the tube.
Because the tube is flexible and has shape retainability, it can be positioned in the mouth so that the suction holes are located close to a tooth to be treated. Once set in position in the mouth, it is not necessary to keep holding the tube with a hand. Thus, sufficient suction force can be applied to a desired area in the mouth.
But this suction device has no means for adjusting the suction force in a delicate manner. Particularly, it is possible only to turn on or off the vacuum source. Thus, it was impossible to adjust the temperature and humidity in the mouth freely to any desired level.
For example, it was impossible to increase the temperature in the mouth to a level at which the efficacy of drugs such as hypochlorite, phosphate or ETDA is the highest when they are applied to teeth, gum or mucous membranes.
Cements are used to bond crowns, inlays and bridges to teeth. These dental cements harden more quickly at elevated temperatures. Thus, if it takes a long time for treatment, the dentist may desire to delay the hardening of a cement. When the treatment has finished, the dentist will now desire to harden the cement as quickly as possible. But this is of course impossible with conventional dental suction devices as disclosed in the abovementioned publications because the suction force cannot be controlled at all.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dental suction device of the above-described type having means which enables a dental practitioner to delicately control the suction force produced in the flexible, hollow tube so that he can adjust the temperature and humidity in the mouth of a patient by controlling the suction force produced in the tube while performing dental treatment.